Hummingbird Herald Newsletter

Hummingbird Herald

October 2021 www.crescentcityfuchsiasociety.com

President’s Message

Greetings from Mary Anne Buckles
Crescent City Fuchsia and Epiphyllum
Club president 2021-2023.

Good morning Fuchsia lovers!
October....can you believe it? I can't!
Before you know it, it will be 2022!
Yes, we are having a meeting this month.
Covid numbers have fallen in Del Norte
so the Board felt we were safe get
together. Delfie and Mary Anne will be
will be serving our pot luck meal with
masks and gloves so we hope you feel
safe enough to attend because we have
lots to discuss.
Among the many things to discuss is
adding begonias to the flowers that our
club grows. The Board voted to add
begonias and give them a 2-year period to
see if they catch on. Personally I love
begonias and look forward to getting to
know more about them and to become
more of an expert in growing them.
Here's a personal challenge. Invite a
"garden lover" friend to come to our
meeting next week. There is lots of space
in the Fairgrounds dining room to
accommodate at least 20 additional
people!
See you Wednesday, October 20th!

This months’ meeting:
Wed. October 20th 6 P.M.
Winterizing your plants
With Mark Danner

Mitzi Travis 1946-2021 Rest in Peace

EPI CORNER – October 2021
Well, here it is October and we have
hardly seen each other thanks to the
COVID 19 crisis. We have been cautious
over the months but now we may be
seeing signs things are slowly getting
back to normal - we hope. With the
recent outbreak here in Del Norte it is
hard to say. It is especially hard when
we recently lost one of our long-time
members, Mitzi Travis, to this horrible
disease. God bless you, Mitzi. We will
miss you, but we know you have made it
to a better place.
With our Epies they have ignored the
crisis and just kept on growing (and
blooming) like nothing had changed. As
for now, a few of you may be enjoying an
off-season bloom or two even as our
plants are getting ready for a cool winter.
A dose of fertilizer right now will help
next spring’s blooms which are starting
to develop now. Use a blooming fertilizer
like 0-10-10 meaning no nitrogen. Apply
at half the rate recommended by the
manufacturer. If you cannot find a
fertilizer with the first number as 0 (zero)
use one with a very low first number like
4-6. Anything higher stimulates growth
and you do not want to stimulate growth
right now. Adding fertilizer with higher
nitrogen levels will do that. New tender
growth is very vulnerable to frost
(freezing) and it is also highly desired by
those slugs and snails which will
suddenly appear with the early rains.
Speaking of tender growth, I know some
of you will look at your Epies and see new
growth. That is normal for this time of
year and will soon stop growing and
harden off for winter. In most cases that
new growth now will be close to maturing
for winter.
Sheltering in a greenhouse or up close to
the house under the eaves of the house
will give added protection from those
occasional freezes we get as winter
arrives and progresses. Epies do freeze
quite easily. You will cry if one of your
prized Epies suddenly turns to mush
during a freeze so take a precaution now
and give them a little protection from
freezing (and also our hard rains).
Hope to see you soon.
Enjoy.
Don